


where you belong

by Konquina



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Character Death, Coffeeshop AU, Drinking, Drug Use, I don't know if it's funny, It's kind of cheesy, Lucky One MV, M/M, Maybe because it's so bad, Minseok is kind of an asshole but Jongdae is too, POWER MV, Save Jongin from doors, Smoking, Struggle, Superpowers, Their concept is begging for this, University AU, Violence, Yoongi deserves better, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-03-02 04:14:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13310205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Konquina/pseuds/Konquina
Summary: Kim Jongdae has the most ordinary life ever. Working at a local coffeeshop, going to university. But he doesn't know who or what he really is until one day a boy is thrown through the window of the shop he works in. Starting there he is confronted with troubles and has to accept that he may not be human.Or:The EXO Superpower!AU Jongdae deserves, containing:Swearing, coffee, thunderstorms, Jongin being a safety hazard mostly for himself, Yixing the cinnamon roll, more or less sneaky Kaisoo, Bigbang selling drugs, bts buying drugs, a detailed acid trip, Chanyeol complaining about their living conditions, aliens colouring their hair, sudden angst, unpredictable smut and much more





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone~  
> I wanted to write this for a long time, just because the whole Superpower concept is screaming for a fanfiction and XiuChen is my love.  
> English is not my first language so please forgive minor mistakes.  
> But nevertheless I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> (Special thanks to my beta reader Roodle)

If someone were to ask Kim Jongdae to summarize this special evening late in november, he would have told them not to wish for your life to get less boring while cleaning mugs.  
He scrubbed the ugly grey mug he drank his coffee from and let out a long annoyed groan. His co-workers had already left the shop a while ago and it was his responsibility to close and do the last cleaning.  
It was like every evening; mundain, draining work he just did to pay his student loan.

Mindlessly he was wiping off the tables, not even noticing the loud tires squeaking in front of the shop.  
But then, like thunder, something crashed right through the window. The loud bursting of the window made Jongdae throw himself in a reflex under the table.  
He held close to the stand, breathing fast, ears tingling.  
A bright, blinding light, most likely from a car, made it impossible to see for a second, then the light was gone and all he could see were the red lights from the car driving away.  
Jongdae stared at the shop window, completely crashed, shards of glass all over the floor, some falling down from the frame one after one. The sound when they reached the floor was the only sound Jongdae heard, shock and fear clinging to his bones.  
And so it felt like hours when it were just a few seconds that he stared at the body laying inside a pile of glass on the ground.  
The boy whined and moaned full of pain, rolling around which only caused him more pain, the glass cutting his skin.  
Suddenly Jongdae overcame his fear, even though he had no idea what to do he still walked towards the boy.  
His face was beaten up and blood almost as red as his hair dropped out of several wounds.   
Jongdae squatted next to him.  
"Hello?! Can you hear me?"  
In panic he thought about moving him and tried to find the right angle a few times, but he was afraid of hurting him.  
"Yixing?", the boy asked almost too quiet for Jongdae to hear and opened his eyes.  
"Who the fuck is Yixing?" Jongdae almost shouted, afraid he'll soon loose his mind with the mess around him and the half dead bleeding person in front of him.

It felt like ice water running down his back when he heard,again, tires approaching. But this time they were lighter, the motor sounded heavier like a motorcycle..no not only one.  
Quickly he took off his jacket and grabbed the boy under his shoulders, but he slipped, his palms too sweaty.  
He looked around, left and right, some place to bring the boy to a safe place but he felt helpless.  
The shop only contained the counter, the room they were inside with the tables and chairs, which Jongdae had already put up on the table. In the back were a small kitchen, which was more like a room to do the dishes and a small chamber where the employees could leave their clothes.  
"Come on!", Jongdae looked scared outside just to see that the three motorcycles had parked outside the shop and three silhouettes in black were getting down the machines.  
The boy looked up, murmured in pain and exhaled loudly.  
"It's fine", he said quietly as the three persons stepped through the crashed window, one of them running towards the boy on the ground.  
He took of his helmet and kneeled down, the glass not hurting him because of his protection clothes.  
Instinctively Jongdae stepped back, his inner voice screaming at him to run, for one moment he thought about getting one of the glass pieces for defense. But he was clumsy and would most likely cut himself.  
"What did they do to you?", the boy in the motorcycle clothes asked, worry in his voice.  
But the bloodstained boy just smiled and opening his eyes.  
"Nothing that you can't fix"  
'Run', his mind screamed as the other two put down their helmets and seperated their ways. The one with really short hair, like an army cut, looked carefully at the window frame, taking notes on a small notebook, writing without looking.  
The other one, with parted night black hair, was typing on his phone.  
'Run', Jongdae heard again and he stepped back silently, trying to take a distance between him and all of this.  
To his bad luck the shards under his feet cracked, exposing his movements.  
"You're going nowhere", the one with black hair said, without looking up from his phone.   
His heart began to race. What would they do to him? Would they hurt him because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time?  
"D.O., call the company. We need this fixed until 3" The one taking notes just nodded and continued.  
"Lay, stitch him back together"  
"I would never let this pretty face go to waste", the one kneeling said and helped the injured sitting up.  
Now the black haired guy was looking up from his phone, piercing Jongdae with his look. His eyes were a soft grayish-blue and cold.  
When he started approaching Jongdae, he moved backwards, he had no intention to die in this damn Coffeeshop he worked in.  
"Are you injured?", the boy asked.  
Jongdae was surprised. This was not what he was awaiting to hear.  
The boys voice was weirdly high, not quite fitting his appearance, being black clothes from head to toe, even his hair, the only exception were those eyes that were staring at him.  
He was waiting for an answer and raised an eyebrow, Jongdae shook his head.  
"Listen", he put his phone in his pocket, took a deep breath and took off one of his black gloves. "I'm sorry you got involved in this. I promise you won't get any troubles, we will take care about..this" He said while gesturing half-hearted into the room.  
Jongdae fixed his eyes onto the glass drained in blood and the mess in front of him.  
"The only thing I need you to do", the boy continued. "You write your normal working time into the system, take you stuff and go home. Go home, do whatever you do tomorrow, go to work like nothing happened and.."  
Now he smiled, but it gave Jongdae goosebumps, it was a dangerous smile.  
"..and?", Jongdae asked stupid but curious.  
"And tell nobody what happened or what you saw", his opposite tiled his head, still smiling, like it was some kind of game for him.  
"Do you understand?"  
Jongdae nodded.  
"Then go now", he said and drew his attention back to his phone.  
Without hesitation Jongdae sprinted into the back room where the employees stuff was stored. He heard hushed voices.  
"Can we trust him?", one voice said, Jongdae didn't hear it before, so it must be the buzzcut guy.  
"We have no choice", creepy smile guy said.  
Jongdae felt how his stomach turned, he pressed his clothes into his back, hands shaking, the keys in his hands being the noiseiest thing in the room.   
For one moment he tried to calm down, to collect himself, but the adrenaline in his body was pumping him up, not letting any cell in his body relax now.  
He rushed out of the room, being shocked again when he saw the selling room, the shards cracking under his shoes. While going out of the door he felt how eyes followed him. He dared not to look up, to not make eye contact, but he threw one last fast look to the red haired boy who was leaning against the other one helping him, eyes closed.  
After leaving the shop he increased his tempo, trying to increase the distance between him and this mess.  
A few minutes later he stopped. The alley was small and nobody in sight.  
Jongdaes breath created small clouds in the cold November air.  
Breathing in, breathing out. Again, something in his stomach turned. He looked at his hands, there was blood on it. With wide eyes he stared at the dark red stains and his body turned hot, his legs seemed to give up.  
He felt like he was hyperventilating, falling down on his knees, his hands tried to grab the cold asphalt like he was trying to hold on to something. Fingernails were drilling into the ground, cracking, but he didn't hear it or felt the pain.  
All he wanted to do was scream and he felt like he had to, but when he opened his mouth all that came out was vomit, tasting bitter on his tongue.  
His throat was burning and his head dizzy. Two small tears were slowly running down his cheeks and he didn't know if it was coping or if it was his body, trying to stand the exhaustion.  
Because on his inside there was nothing right now, Jongdae still wanted to scream but he couldn't stop throwing up, even if his stomach was already empty and his body was trying to clean him from everything.  
So he continued gagging, more tears running down his face, while he started sobbing.

The disgusting noise of the alarm clock woke Jongdae up. He twitched and calmed down when he realised that he was laying in his bed. How he got home last night was just a blurry memory, everything seemed and felt unreal to the extent that he questioned what really had happened. But when he turned off the alarm clock he saw his fingers, dirt and blood still underneath them, some of them cracked to the skin.  
Jongdae felt like he had been awake for weeks, he yawned.  
It was weird to think about how insignificant everything was. When he wouldn't go to class his professor would give him a warning and he couldn't collect more of them.  
His apartment he shared with another student was a sleeping hoard anyways, so it was Jongdaes duty to wake up his roommate, even if this was almost impossible.  
Most of the time he just went to the bathroom, grabbed a bottle of water and pour it over him. The most important thing was to run afterwards because Yoongi would hit him right away, but when he was awake he insisted that Jongdae should wake him up, even if he himself had trouble getting out of bed everyday.  
So he laid there, watching how the minutes passed, massaging his temples, considering if he should go to class or if he should rather keep whining about his pathetic life and the confrontation with death and violence he had last night.  
He wished he could tell Yoongi about it, because even if he was moody and not a lot of people could understand his moods, he always listened to Jongdae and cared, even if he couldn't quiet express it. But he couldn't tell him. He was afraid, so afraid right now.  
Afraid to go out, afraid where those ice cold eyes would follow him, that they would watch every step he made.  
It hammered hardly on his door.  
"What the fuck is wrong Kim? Are you alive?", Yoongi opened the door without asking and looked at Jongdae.  
"Shit, what happened?", Yoongi was looking at Jongdaes hands and maybe the look of horror and exhaustion in his face, mixed with the worst eyebags he ever had, spoke for itself.  
"Why are you awake?", Jongdae asked, trying to keep away from the topic of his night, dragging his body in an upright position.  
"Didn't sleep", his roommate just shrugged and leaned against the frame of the door.  
Jongdae rolled his eyes.  
"But why..?"  
Yoongi shrugged again, opening his arms.  
"Seemed useless. I'll just sleep in class"  
Jongdae smiled weakly.  
"Fuck you really seem off. I'm making coffee and you get your ass into the bathroom", he tapped away like a little kitten in his way too big white long shirt and Jongdae heard noises from the kitchen.  
Jongdae got up, his head still being dizzy and dragged himself into the bathroom.  
Looking into the mirror he understood what Yoongi meant. Apart from his dark brown hair being a mess every single morning, his eyes where red from crying and throwing up. Little red dots where sprinkled around his lid, caused by popped veins from vomiting. First he stepped into the shower, even if he was way to lazy to shower, he wanted to wash away everything.  
Jongdae stared at the drops running down the wall and leaned his head against the cool tiles.  
The water was so hot that he could barely see because of the steam, but it was burning away all the dirt that he felt was covering his whole body, even on the inside.

 

It felt like he was outside of his body when he got dressed and packed his bag for today's lecture.  
Together with Yoongi he stepped through the hallway of the university, Yoongi yawning every two seconds.  
They still had a little time which surprised Jongdae, because both of them where extraordinarily slow this morning.  
From the right Seulgi slung her arm around Jongdaes shoulder, kicking him out of his delirium.  
"Wow Jongdae, how much did you drink yesterday night?", she asked laughing.  
"Nothing", Jongdae whined and was about to free himself from her grip when something in the crowd grabbed his attention.  
Suddenly his stomach felt ill again and he was thrown back at the floor of the coffeeshop, looking down on this red mob of hair drenched in his own blood.  
But now this red hair was standing not far away from him, chatting lively with someone Jongdae didn't know.  
With one movement the boy turned around and looked right into Jongdaes eyes.  
Jongdae gasped.  
The boys face was flawless, his skin looked soft and totally not beaten up and cut like yesterday.  
He winked viciously in Jongdaes direction and that was the moment when his legs gave up and he was going down under the screams of Seulgi and Yoongi.  
Was he loosing his mind?


	2. Chapter 2

When Jongdae got back to work for the first time after the incident, he couldn't close his mouth or stop staring at the shop window. He was overwhelmed, looking in awe at it because there wasn't anything.  
They hadn't lied when they said that they would fix it. But the coffeeshop looked as peaceful as it did before, empty and silent, untouched.  
First he had unlocked the door carefully, then he walked around the selling room for a while, just looking around, touching tables, eying the window.  
It was too normal, too surreal and so it happened that he thought less and less about that evening.

Right now, Jongdae had the evening shift again, standing behind the counter, listening to the muffled conversation spread throughout the room.   
It was about two month later, it was snowing outside, but the days were finally getting longer again. Soon it would be new year.  
The small flocks were falling down softly, being watched by Jongdae, who lit up a few candles and started to clean the coffee machine.  
It was weird that he liked making coffee more than actually drinking it, but for him it was some kind of art. Not many people appreciated it, when he created small pattern on the foam, or when he spent hours to finally master the right amount of milk and coffee together.  
His boss appreciated it, at least, and some friends of his, who would come here for his well done coffee rather than the people who only came for a dose of caffeine in their stressful lives and who didn't even think about enjoying it anymore.  
Jongdae kind of pitied them. Having so much to do that you have no time for yourself anymore.  
What's the stress about then?  
Maybe for others? Others they held dear?  
He couldn't relate. It was not that he wasn't happy having his friends, or that he never crushed on someone, but he never had a really strong bond with anyone.  
Not even his foster parents, who treated him well and welcoming, but he never had a feeling of belonging.  
Sometimes he felt seperate from this world, existing in a vacuum, not entirely sure why.

He shook his head, cursing himself a bit for such pathetic thoughts on a this beautiful evening. The costumers who were sitting in front of him now were far away from the morning clientele. No rush, no hectic, no bad mood. No one was extraordinarily happy too.  
It was just..calm.  
Jongdae loved those evenings, when people actually cared about what he did. They asked more detailed questions, asked for recommendations, praised him for his coffee and went back to their table.  
Everything was drenched in the soft candle light, shadowing half the faces of the costumers.  
He leaned against the counter and smiled a bit.

His phone rang right after he wanted to leave the shop, ready to go home.  
It was Yoongi.  
"Do you want to come over for a little session? We're stuck. Oh and bring your coffee"  
Jongdae agreed and so he made his way a little away from the city centre, into the third city ring, where the apartment of a shared friend of his and Yoongi lived.  
A small paper bag with handmade coffee in one hand, his phone in the other, he stepped down the stairs into the basement floor of the house, just kicking against the door because he couldn't use his hands.  
The owner of the apartment, Namjoon, opened the door, his face lighting up when he saw the bag in Jongdaes left hand.  
"You brought coffee", he said smiling and Jongdae was about to complain that he wasn't happy about him being there, but only about the hot bean juice he had with him, when Yoongi shouted from another room:  
"Don't you spill it!"  
Namjoon took the bag, let Jongdae in and walked back into the apartment, shouting back at Yoongi.  
"Two times! It only happened two times"  
Jongdae took off his shoes and curled his feet into Namjoons comfortable slipper, following him.  
He didn't know how Namjoon was able to afford it, but half of his apartment was a well equipted studio, where he composed, wrote and created his own pieces.  
At the beginning it was just for university and a small SoundCloud account, but he was too much of a perfectionist to actually publish anything, even if Jongdae had faith that he could be successful.  
Jongdae had started with just singing what they gave him, liking the way how the two played with words and Yoongi had a special way of composing that Jongdae was happy to be a part of.  
But as time flew they had encouraged him to actually start writing his own lyrics, still mostly with their help, but he was proud that he was creating something.  
The three of them were a good combination, regarding that Yoongi neither Namjoon had the best singing voice while they called Jongdaes voice a "fucking unfair gift from heaven". And so it came to be that they sat together on nights like this, tripping over words, trying to create melodies, harmonies and often just freestyle, laughing about the shit that came out of it.

Yoongi was sitting on the ground, pen and paper in his hands, trying to sip the coffee in front of him without hands. Namjoon was sitting on his chair, cup in both hands, apologizing for the mess.  
Jongdae sat down next to Yoongi, making himself comfortable.  
"What's the emergency?", he asked while he took a cup of coffee for himself out of the paper bag.  
"Yoongi is on the 'way-to-emotional-lovesong' wave", Namjoon laughed with foam on his lips. The other just glared at him.  
"I just think your voice would fit the chorus and.."  
"I think it's too cheesy", Namjoon interrupted.  
Jongdae raised an eyebrow.  
Yoongi just looked away and muffled a hushed "it's a new years present" and with that they dropped that topic.  
He gave Jongdae the paper. It looked really messy. A lot of words were crossed out, written new and crossed out again. That being very unusual for Yoongi, Jongdae choose to ignore it and started reading the words. Namjoon was right, it was really cheesy. Yoongi was a master in writing about the hardships of live and some other gangster shit, but love was a new topic for him.  
He had to laugh a bit, it was cute seeing his confident friend like this.  
"Maybe you shouldn't use so many methapors and comparisons", Jongdae suggested.  
Yoongi opened his mouth to complain, but Jongdae just gave him a look.  
"I think too much of "your smile is like the sunshine after weeks of clouds in the sky" is more dissuasive than complimenting"  
His friend buried his face on the ground, letting out a distressed noise.  
"I'm so bad at this", he said, voice ruffled through his hair that was falling onto the ground.  
"It's new for you", Namjoon said, trying to be consoling.  
"I don't understand why you ask me for help for such a topic to be honest", Jongdae said, after reading the whole paper.  
"Because you are an external person to that topic. I need a bit objectivity"  
Namjoon lit a cigarette and gave Jongdae another paper, which were the same lyrics, just copied.  
"Be creative Kim", he said and so Jongdae began to cross out things, reorganize and rewrite, while trying to still keep the original as good as possible.  
"I was thinking about", Yoongi began. "When you sing the chorus it would sound more.. complete..does that make sense?"  
Namjoon laughed. "It does"  
Not much for Jongdae, but he just smiled, finding the whole situation amusing.  
"What are we doing for new year's by the way?", he asked into the small circle.  
"Uhh, do you remember this awesome house of Jisoos?", Namjoon looked excited.  
Yoongi and Jongdae nodded.  
"Well, her parents go to some 'wholesome' vacation with her little sister over the holidays, sooooooo nobodys home"  
Yoongi smiled mischievously.  
"Perfect"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My updating circle is a bit messy because my beta reader has a life..not like me.  
> But I hope you enjoyed it ~


	3. Chapter 3

It was raining heavily when Jongdae stepped through the city, cursing the rain and being annoyed because he was getting wet. The eerie atmosphere of the city, drenched in the light of the colourful neon signs, car lights and some rare lightning bolts.  
In his bag were a few bottles of Soju and a bit of firework for tonight.  
A lot of people were supposed to come, a few that Jongdae liked, and a lot whom he didn't like. For the most part he got along with everyone but he decided that today he would just focus on his friends rather than being irritated by strangers.  
The drops started falling into his eyes, blocking his sight, he shivered.  
What a shit show the weather had been the last days. They had hoped for good weather so they could light up Lampions and maybe go outside, but nature apparently hated them.  
He climbed up the stairs to the house of Jisoos parents, it being worth more than his entire existence. The dark stone that covered the whole front of the house made it look elegant and dangerous at the same time. A lot of flowers usually decorate the outer stairs but it was too cold now. There were only a few candle holders, made out of glass in shape of the animal of the next year, the dog.  
Jongdae rang the bell and listening to the muffled voices inside of the house and he could see that already a lot of people were there. Jisoo opened the door and let him in quickly.  
"I think the weather is *fucking with* us today", she said when she saw how drenched Jongdae was.  
"This is my best hoodie", Jongdae whined and handed the bag to her.  
"Do you need something to change?", she asked, watching the water drop down from him.  
He shook his head.  
"I'll just put it on the heater"  
Like he said he took off his hoodie, he had a shirt underneath, and spread it out on the heater located in the entrance area.  
Together they walked through the first floor, marble stone covering the floor and ornaments standing around the entrance area.  
They came into the living room. Jisoo had put away most of the expensive and precious pieces of art and furniture in advance, to minimised the danger of getting it broken.  
The cause for it getting broken stood on a table located on the left side of the room. There were so many bottles of alcohol, that Jongdae couldn't count them. Some of them he made out as Soju, others looked more like expensive high percentage alcohol. Suddenly he felt ridiculous with the four bottles of convenience store Soju he bought.  
Jisoo noticed his worry and started to laugh, patting him on his back with surprising strength.  
"We will need what you bought with that many people coming. Especially if Soonkyu is going wild"  
As he predicted, a lot of people were already spread around the room, which was bigger than his and Yoongis apartment.  
Speaking of Yoongi, Jongdae spotted him, sitting in front of the open door which lead to the terrace, smoking. He took a few delightful drags, leaned against the wall and continued this conversation with someone Jongdae didn't know.  
He just started approaching them, when Seulgi, Soonkyu and Haechan appeared in his sight.  
"I heard you're going wild tonight?", Jongdae commented when he hugged Soonkyu. She grinned.  
"When am I not?"  
"And because of that, I am calling for the first round of shots", Seulgi said and magically pulled four shot glasses and a bottle of some high percentage stuff out of her jacket.  
"You look like a drug dealer", Haechan laughed and started pouring the liquid.  
And so the evening started.

After the fifth round of shots, Jongdae decided it was enough for now, approaching Yoongi who was now talking and smoking one joint after another with Namjoon.  
Soonkyu was curled across the spacious couch, Soju bottle in one hand, hugging Seulgi who was a bit irritated by the sudden affection but laughed.  
There were still around three hours until midnight and the house got more and more crowded with a lot of people Jongdae didn't know. He sat next to the two people he knew best.  
"Finally", Namjoon said, handing him the joint, but Jongdae denied politely.  
"I saw you started wild", Yoongi noted, leaning back against the wall again.  
"What were you two talking about?", Jongdae asked casually while watching the others in the room.  
The mood was good, nobody was already too drunk, nobody behaved bad. Even if it wasn't his house, he felt anxious about it and he made a mental note to help Jisoo clean tomorrow.  
Namjoon was wrapped in a blanket and smiling uncontrollably.  
From the open door cold air came into the house and Jongdae shivered.  
"Come cuddle", Namjoon said, half laughing and opened the blanket for Jongdae. He robbed next to Namjoon and covered himself with the fluffy fabric.  
"You two are so cute when you're high"  
While his friends were continuing their conversation, which he now heard was just weed induced philosophy shit, Jongdae closed his eyes.  
Slowly he was feeling the alcohol, but not too much, just a warm dizzy feeling in his chest. The blanket became more comfortable and his perception a bit blurred. He felt happy.  
The rain was hitting the marquise, it seemed wild, like the nature was angry almost. Somewhere far, Jongdae heard thunder, breaking through the clouds.  
"..and this is why I think that fish actually don't 'like' to swim but would prefer walking", Namjoon said matter of factly.  
Jongdae hadn't listed to their conversation before but bursted out in laughter.  
"What the fuck are you two talking about?"  
Yoongi made a face.  
"Important stuff okay?!"  
Namjoon shifted his head onto Jongdaes shoulder and Yoongi made another face.  
"How many people do you know in this room?", Jongdae asked, eying people going on with their business.  
"A few", Yoongi said, scratching his head.  
"Wait", he eyed one group of people specifically, then laughed out loud.  
"My dealer is here!"  
Jongdae and Namjoon followed his eyes to two guys standing next to the fireplace.  
The two were looking in their direction too and started approaching them.  
"The almighty Min Suga", the smaller one with brown hair and a sneaky look on his face said, while shaking hands with Yoongi.  
"The mischievous Seunghyung", he answered.  
"Why do they have comic book introductions?", Jongdae whispered to Namjoon, who just shrugged.  
"Can we keep your company for a while?", Seunghyung asked, while nipping on a drink on ice that looked like whiskey.  
Yoongi agreed and so the two sat down.  
"Jisoo said you can't smoke somewhere else", the other one muffled while fumbling with a pack of cigarettes.  
"Seunghyung, by the way", the one with pink spiked hair said.  
"What?", Jongdae blurted out.  
"We share the same name", Seunghyung 1 explained.  
"This is bothersome"  
"That's why I mostly go under the name 'Seungri' when the two of us are together"  
"Which I think is a really shitty name", Seunghyung 2 said.  
"Better than being the original pimp!", Seungri spat jokingly and the pink haired guy, now smoking, just gave him an evil look.  
"What are the two of you smoking?", smoking Seunghyung asked.  
"We keep a good balance between Amnesia and White Widow", Namjoon explained.  
"If you want something different, I'm always here", Seungri rose his eyebrow, while sipping on his drink.  
"No thanks", Yoongi said, but Jongdae was curious.  
"What do you mean by different?"  
"That's the spirit!", Seungri pointed at Jongdae and laughed.  
"Depends what you want", he added.  
"We could take you to a journey", Seunghyung said mysteriously, taking a long drag from his cigarette.  
Jongdae looked into his eyes, he had no idea what he was talking about, but he kind of was eager to find out.  
"Go on"  
"Jongdae you don't even smoke weed. Be careful honey", Yoongi said critically.  
Did he just call him honey.  
"It's not too dangerous", Seungri said while making a vague gesture.  
"People keep stuck on it", Yoongi insisted.  
"It's used to cure deep emotional trauma for example", Seunghyung noted and now Jongdae was listening carefully.  
"Jongdae", Namjoon whispered silent but urging.  
Maybe it was that he was a bit tipsy, or that nightmares had him waking up for month or that he always found the idea of trying out LSD quite interesting, but he wanted.  
"You have to be sure that you want it. Otherwise your trip will be horrible", Seunghyung said while sneakily taking out a small package.  
Jongdae was sure, so he nodded and let himself give a small piece of paper, not bigger than his fingernails, with a small cloud printed on it.  
"Just put it on your tongue and let it soak in", Seungri explained. "And if anything happens", he added. "We're here and experienced"  
Jongdae looked at the small paper and placed it carefully on his tongue.  
"Tastes like shit"  
The bitter aroma spread across his mouth.  
"Our small Jongdae. He's growing up so fast", Namjoon laughed and took a drag off another joint, that Jongdae hadn't even noticee Yoongi had built.  
"I'm older than you"  
"But it feels like we adopted you", Namjoon said, a big smile on his face.  
"Jongdae, do you want to be a true sweetheart?"  
He looked at Namjoon and raised an eyebrow.  
"Depends"  
"He wants food", Yoongi said.  
Jongdae considered it. Getting up and walking was always troublesome, but he was not stoned, so for him it was at least possible.  
The paper in this mouth was almost gone, so he threw the blanket off and stood up. Making his way through the masses of people he walked towards the door next to the alcohol table, just slow enough to still hear a loud "thank youu~" from behind.  
Soonkyu was having some kind of dance off with Haechan while Seulgi stood next to them, being embarrassed and Jongdae could almost feel her cringing.  
Going through the door he came into an amazing kitchen, spacious, open and so..clean. There was a cooking island in the middle of the room and everything was in a nice warm white and grey. If he thought about Yoongis and his kitchen, he almost felt embarrassed. In one corner a girl was talking loudly on the phone in a language he didn't understand.  
Jongdae opened the biggest cupboard door, which most likely would be the fridge and he was right.  
Inside was lots of food, but most of it required preparing. But deep inside he saw a box that he was very familiar with. It came from the kimbap place at the university that was really popular among students. He snatched the box and placed it next to the fridge, looking for a bit more in the other drawers and cupboards.

At the end he had a small stock consisting of kimbap, spiced seaweed, chips, one bottle of Softdrink and an apple.  
As he looked at the apple, he was confused. Jongdae could swear that it was green before, but now a redish glimmer was laying over it. He picked it up, turning it around and stopped. The more he lifted it up, the more blue it became, while on the left of his vision field it became yellow.  
Dragging his attention away from the apple he felt how his breath was working hard. It felt like walking a marathon.  
Was it right like this? Breathing in and out? When did he learn how to do that?  
All of his vision was now seperated in the three major colours, who just mixed in the middle and everything looked so much more alive. He couldn't tell what it was, but the colours were more insensitive, like someone had turned up the saturation in his brain.  
As fast as he could he collected the food and made his way back to his friends.  
Going through the crowd was horrible. All of w sudden he felt watched, he felt like those people were intruders, like he didn't belong with them, like he was different. All those peasants couldn't even imagine what he was seeing.  
On the other hand, it felt like nobody was there, like he was a spiritual being, swaying thorough the crowd smoothly.  
He reached his friends, his breath was now going even faster, but he didn't feel like he got any oxygen from it.  
Yoongi looked up from his conversation and was about to shout happily about the food arriving, but then his face fell, his eyes wide.  
"Jongdae?", he asked and Jongdae could hear the worry in his voice but he couldn't concentrate on it, because he was suffocating.  
When did he learn how to breathe? How is it done? Jongdae couldn't remember.  
"I can help..", Seungri started but Yoongi interrupted, angered now.  
"Don't you dare fucking touch him!"  
Yoongi stood up and came closer, his eyes weirdly big, his skin suddenly soft lilac.  
"How do I breathe?", Jongdae asked, desperate. He felt how tears were coming into his eyes. This is not how he wanted to die.  
"I'm suffocating"

And suddenly he was outside, under the marquise, laying in Yoongis lap, blanket over both of them.  
"You breathe in", Yoongi took a deep breath. "And out" He lowered his hand to visualise his actions. Jongdae was shaking, trying to imitiate what his friend was doing, but it was so hard.  
"Chennie, I'm here. You can do this", Yoongi said in a soft voice, ruffling through his hair.  
Jongdae wanted to protest, he hated that nickname so much, but he was too concentrated on learning how to breathe again.  
Slowly he got the hang of it. How much air to inhale and in which rhythm to exhale.  
His breath was going slower, more regularly.  
"Better?", Yoongi asked and Jongdae just nodded.  
He felt like laying down forever, he stared at one spot for a while.  
"What time is it?", Jongdae asked.  
"Wow you can talk again"  
"..it's.. hard"  
"22:46"  
Yoongi was calmly stroking through his hair and he watched he the rain.  
The noise was so calm and his vision now so blurry that he didn't see anything at all, just colours battling of domination, like an alive acrylic painting. But the nature seemed alive too. Suddenly the wood on the tree standing near him seemed to move. The bark bursted, moving aside and another tree was coming out of it, which grew fastly. The leaves doubled and were dancing around the branches. The raindrops were no longer falling down but some of them went up, some of them swirling around in beautiful patterns.  
Jongdae looked up, the clouds were mirrored, turning around like he was looking through a kaleidoscope. He tilted his head and the clouds moved along with him.  
All the plants in the garden in front of him moved, danced and grew uncontrollably. Ranks of strong plants were growing out the bushes, trying to reach high or covering the floor.  
Jongdae watched in utter fascination, never seen nature being so alive. And he watched for hours, following the life of things he never knew were alive. The stones underneath him were liquid all of the sudden, flowing like water and hardening at another place.  
But then he remembered. Yoongi was here and he felt bad that he had spent so much time ignoring him.  
"What time is it?"  
Yoongi laughed.  
"You just asked that. It's 22:48"  
"Do you see this?", Jongdae asked while he watched new trees to break out of the bark of old ones.  
"No, Chennie"  
"But why? It's..it's amazing", he turned around to look at his friend and he looked different. His hair was in a pastel blue, while his skin was now deeply lilac.  
"Your eyes are so pretty....all four of them"  
It was true, Yoongis four eyes were dark black with little stars inside it, floating around. It looked like he was watching the universe through a telescope. Around the eyes there were strange symbols and ornaments he never saw before but they looked so natural. Had humans ever looked different?  
"Okay, you feel better and I'm freezing. Do you mind if I leave you alone for a while?"  
Jongdae nodded and felt how Yoongi stood up. He curled himself into the blanket, not wanting to go inside. Too many creatures who were not like him. Who weren't seeing what he saw, who didn't know what he knew. To his amusement he noted that even the blanket was moving. The fabric was reknotting itself and the threads were getting together in small spirals.  
"Jongdae? Are you alright?"  
"Yea sure. Did you forgot anything?"  
"It's almost midnight. Come inside"  
Jongdae got up, confused. Yoongi had just left right? But it was true, when he stepped inside he saw the big clock showing 23:51.  
He quickly learned that being inside was stressful. The walls not only came closer, but moved away again just as quick. Nothing was standing still. It seemed like the walls were jumping and changing sizes, independently from each other, which resulted in Jongdae seeing shapes he never saw before.  
All humans in the room looked like Yoongi, but with different skin and hair colours. But it was normal right? When didn't humans have four eyes?  
Thunder broke again.  
"Hey, are you seeing pink dragons?", Namjoon asked as he slung his arm around Jongdae. His hair was long and fluffy all of the sudden and it grew consistently, but when Jongdae looked away and at him again, it was short again.  
"No, but you have long hair"  
Namjoon laughed.  
It was getting easier, he didnt have the urge to run out of the room because it was moving anymore. He got used to the constant jumping, twirling, growing and moving around him. It was normal for him now. But the people were still strange, they were still far away from him, just Namjoon and Yoongi felt like they were of his kind.  
"Okay half a minute left", Jisoo yelled and the crowd cheered. Everyone was looking at the clock.  
"10..9..8..7"  
Namjoon, Yoongi and Jongdae joined: "6..5..4..3..2..ONE!"  
With the last second Jongdae embraced his two friends, while Jisoo popped a bottle of champagne.  
"Happy new year!"  
Jongdae searched the crowd and found Seulgi.  
"Happy new year my dear" He hugged her and felt so incredibly good.  
Haechan and Soonkyu joined their group hug.  
"It's time for fireworks!" Jongdae screamed and the crowd cheered again, raising their glasses, bottles and cups.  
Someone opened both doors to the terrace and Jisoo cranked the marquise back.  
Yoongi was at the other side at the room, pointing at Jongdaes bag in his hand and then outside.  
He rushed to the terrace were others were already lighting up fireworks. It was really loud, firecrackers exploding on the street next to them.  
It was still raining but almost nobody cared. Euphorically Jongdae grabbed one rocket and Yoongi lit it up with his lighter.  
He held the stick as far up as he could and when he felt it pulling he let it go.  
The sky was cloudy, so the firework exploded and the lights looked eerie and foggy. The lights danced around the sky, exploding more and even a few lights danced around Jongdae like fireflies. He didn't know if it was real or induced from the drug. But it didn't matter, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.  
The sky was glowing, the rain was pouring and his clothes and hair were soaked. But he laughed and yelled, ready to greet the new year.  
Everything seemed like a different world.  
Jongdae looked to his right, seeing Yoongi, just as soaked, smiling at him and Jongdae felt like home.  
Again thunder was striking and then directly after it, the first lightning stroke of the night lit up the sky.  
Suddenly, Jongdae felt magically. Like energy was running through his veins, like he could feel where the lightning was going. The electricity sparkled in his spine, making his fingers twitch. Never in his life, he felt something like that.  
Nevermind what drugs he had taken, this was another kind of Euphoria, this felt real.  
Standing inside the heavy rain, noise and explosion around him, people yelling, hugging each other, the sky shining in different colours, he still watched the lightning stroke in fascination.  
A poke in the side pulled his attention away. It was Namjoon.  
"Are you coming down?", he asked.  
"Not yet I think"  
"Tell me if, then you need to smoke. It's smoother then"  
Namjoon winked at him and handed him another firecracker.

Most people had already left, it was late night now, around 4 in the morning.  
Jongdae was still noting that things were moving around him, that the walls were not standing still, but it got less.  
He was sitting in a circle on the ground, consisting of Yoongi, Namjoon, Seungri, Haechan, Jisoo and a friend of hers.  
The weather was still going crazy, but there was no more lightning.  
They were talking about this and that, laughing, recalling memories of the old year and sharing their new year's resolutions.  
Suddenly there was a crack and the light went off.  
"Oh fuck. It's the fuse again", Jisoo mourned.  
"Do you just need to turn it on again?", Jongdae asked.  
Jisoo made an agreeing noise and nodded most likely, but he couldn't see.  
"I'm going then"  
"I'm coming with you", Yoongi said and Namjoon gave him a weird look.  
"You need to go..", Jisoo started but Jongdae was already out of the room. He knew where to go, but he didn't know why.  
Yoongi hooked his arm on Jongdaes.  
"Do you know where the basement is?"  
"Sure"  
Yoongi was really stoned and humming tunes while they walked down the big house.  
There was something that pulled Jongdae in the right direction, some kind of force. It was tingling in his ear.  
Soon they reached the stairs into the basement, climbing down.  
"I can't see shit", Yoongi murred next to him. The stairs took a long time to go down and suddenly Jongdae stepped into something.  
"Ugh shit, it's floated"  
His foot was completely wet.  
Yoongi took out his phone and turned on his flashlight.  
The whole basement was under water, most likely because of the heavy rain. Without thinking Yoongi stepped further, the water reaching a bit over his knees.  
"Come on, let's find that box and get a blanket"  
Jongdae felt something, like energy in the air, his blood was rushing.  
He followed Yoongi into the small lake and walked around.  
There was a lot of furniture here and groceries and he hoped they wouldn't be ruined.  
His blood was almost boiling now, something was off.  
"I found it", Yoongi yelled.  
Jongdae turned around and his body froze.  
"Yoongi get away from there!", he screamed.  
How could he not see it? There were a few wires hanging down the electronic box and Jongdae knew, he just knew, that they were loaded with electricity.  
If Yoongi touched them, he would die.  
From there everything happened too fast. It was a reflex, he didn't even think about it, he couldn't let Yoongi die, not him.  
Jongdae sprinted forward, watching in horror how the wires were slowly moving towards the water.  
Thankfully his friend was not heavy at all, so Jongdae lifted him up and threw him with all force he could bring up onto a staple of old tables, which were still dry.  
Yoongi screamed at the sudden action, not knowing what was going on.  
No! He would be to late. The wires were almost touching the water.  
That was when his brain went off. The force pulling him towards the wires and with the knowledge that his friend was safe he grabbed the wires to prevent them from falling into the water.  
His hands closed and the electricity spread through his body, reaching every centimetre. It was so bright all of a sudden, lightning surrounding his body as he screamed, not because it was hurting him, but the strong force felt like it could burst his veins through which it was running.  
And then, everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear there is something happening soon hehe


	4. Chapter 4

"J-Jongdae?"  
Yoongis voice was low, not more than a whisper.  
The whole basement was dark and silent, a few drops falling down into the big puddle.  
Jongdae was breathing hard, he stared at his hands, but he could only see the darkness.  
Twitching energy was still running through his veins, his body was shaking.  
Slowly, he reached out, knowing the fuse box was right in front of him.  
"Jongdae!", the voice was urging, coming from somewhere in the dark.  
Jongdae had his index finger right in front of the box, hesitating.  
As soon as he touched the metal, the energy was leaving his body, like a heavy weight being lifted off his shoulders, the force was pressing out of his finger, being released and he exhaled.  
In a moment, the bulb lit up at the ceiling of the basement and the box made a noise like it was processing.  
Jongdae felt like he hadn't sleep for days, his body screaming from exhaustion.  
He turned around, and saw Yoongi laying on a pile of furniture, horror displayed clearly on his face.  
More or less carefully he made his way down the tables, the sound of the water echoing audible in the big basement.  
He warted through the water, running towards Jongdae.  
"What just happened? Oh my god your arms?!"  
Jongdae looked down at his arms and his veins were popping out and heavily bruised, like he had been hit by a lightning bolt.  
He shivered and looked at Yoongi, whose face looked normal again. The adrenaline had washed the drug completely out of his system.  
Yoongi took his hands without hesitation and Jongdae closed his arms around him, holding him tightly, burying his face in his shoulder.

Dreamily he stirred with a small spoon inside his cup. His eyes followed the foam creating new patterns, white mixing with the soft brown of the coffee.  
He heard noises around him, but it felt like being underwater.  
"Jongdae?"  
Seulgis voice brought him back to reality.  
"Yea what?", he lifted his head off his palm and dragged his eyes away from his cup, to her eyes.  
"Did you listen to anything I just said?", she searched his face, frowning.  
Jongdae shook his head softly and sighted.  
"I'm sorry. I wasn't really there"  
"I could see that"  
She closed her book loudly and took a sip of her coffee.  
"What's wrong with you lately?"  
"I don't know what you mean" Of course he did.  
"You seem so.. liveless. You're always tired and demotivated. What is bothering you?"  
Jongdae heard the worry in her voice. It was the same tone that Namjoon had talked with and how Yoongi talked to him now too.  
Nobody knew what had happened in that basement, neither of them was sure what they saw. But since then, something was just off.  
The day after he had recalled the conversation with Namjoon, about the definition of a near death experience. Why did the universe hate him. What was it lately that messed with his life.  
"I'm sorry, what were you talking about?", he said instead because he didn't want to talk about himself and didn't even know what else he could talk about.  
"I said that I don't know if university is the right thing for me"  
Seulgi looked away from him, out of the window, fixating a point that wasn't really there.  
"It feels so.." She made a face, struggling to find words describing her situation. "Useless. I don't care about the topic I study. I don't want to become a doctor. I know I'm doing this because my parents want me to, but I'm as unhappy as never before"  
She continued looking out of the window and Jongdae understood.  
"Do you think you don't belong to university?", he asked.  
"It's not that I'm not smart enough.."  
"This isn't what I said"  
"It's just that I couldn't care less and I don't feel comfortable with the ambitions and goals the people in my class have. What they want is not what I want in life"  
"..and what do you want in life?"  
Finally she turned around again, smiling softly.  
"Creative freedom"

Yoongi and Namjoon joined them a bit later, joining them after their class, ordering coffee.  
The four of them sat together, talking about their classes.  
Namjoon had been giving Jongdae a few strange looks before he couldn't take it anymore.  
"Namjoon? Is everything alright?"  
Seulgi and Yoongi were in a conversation, cursing the university system and their societies fixation on efficiency.  
"I don't think this is the right place", he nodded his head towards the other two.  
"I don't care", Jongdae said, smiling. He didn't like his friend being worried.  
Namjoon lowered his voice and leaned towards Jongdae.  
"Did anything happened in connection with..you know..that night?"  
Jongdae laughed and shook his head.  
This was not what he expected.  
"No, Namjoon, everything is fine"  
He looked at his phone and almost fell of his chair. It was already twenty minutes before his shift and he still needed to take the subway.  
"Fuck!" As fast as he could collected his stuff from the table.  
"Late for work again?", Yoongi laughed.  
"See you later at home", Jongdae said, gave his roommate a smile and left.

He sat in the subway and turned his phone around in his hand. With his next paycheck he might have enough money to actually buy something for himself. He could upgrade their old shitty PlayStation 3 to the new PlayStation 4.   
Maybe he could go on vacation. Somewhere where he had always wanted to go. Maybe South Africa, maybe Singapore. Well, that might be far above his budget, but he would be satisfied with just leaving the city for a while. He wanted to go to the sea, smell the fresh, salty air. Maybe he should go to Busan, it would be good for him, he needed vacation.  
The last time was with his foster parents, they had visited Shanghai. When Jongdae thought about it, he was kind of sad that they lost contact after he had legally grown up and they had had another child. They were nice, but Jongdae felt almost like they had just replaced him.  
Leaning back, dreaming of the long beaches in Busan, he noticed a girl across him. Her hair was knotted tightly into a bun and she was staring at him. When Jongdae met her eyes, she looked away immediately.  
Cute. Was she crushing on him?  
There were only two stations left until he needed to get off, he got a text from Yoongi.  
'Bring coffee'  
When the speaker announced his station, Jongdae dragged himself off his seat, moving was exhausting.  
He walked out of the station, it was already getting dark, away from the crowded area into the small alleys he liked so much in this part of the city.  
Humming a random melody he swayed thought the streets, actually starting to like the idea to work. The calm atmosphere of the evening would calm his soul.  
Someone was walking behind him, but he didn't care.  
He continued on carelessly when suddenly he got goosebumps all over.  
Nervously he turned around, but there was no one. Already laughing about his paranoia, he turned his head and jumped back.  
"Shit, you scared me"  
Holding his chest with his hand he looked at the girl from the subway standing in front of him. She was thin and a little smaller than him, dressed in a white coat, her lips tinted a bit red.  
"Were you following me?" Jongdae actually was a bit flustered, she was really pretty.  
But she was just staring at him.  
Half laughing he exhaled.  
"Okay, I'll take it as a compliment, but I need to get to work. Maybe you can visit me later, okay?"  
He started walking again, but she didn't move, standing right in his way.   
Now he noticed that the streetlights were much darker than before. Jongdae got nervous. Something was wrong.  
"Are you alright?", he asked, approaching her slowly, but she didn't move, standing there like some kind of statue, just staring at him.  
"Ah fuck it"  
Now he was a little annoyed, he just wanted to get to work on time.  
When he was just about to pass her, she stretched out her arm, preventing him from walking past her in the small street.  
"Listen, if this is some kind of joke. I'm not in the mood", he rose his voice a little, angry about not knowing what was going on and he had no patience to find it out.  
With a little force he tried to shove her away, but he.. couldn't.  
Jongdae didn't even see it coming, at once, the girl grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall.  
Irritated by the sudden movement and pain in his back he groaned. Scared he looked down into the eyes of the girl and gasped when he saw that they were plain black. Her hands were cold as ice and her grip stronger than stone.  
He tried to get away, but her grip just tightened, adding pressure to his throat, which made him gasp for air.  
"Identify yourself", she demanded in a voice that didn't sound human. It was too cold, too emotionless. Pure fear rose up in his body, he kicked his feet and tried to grab her hand with his, but it was like a metal collar, capturing his skin.  
"Please. Let me go!", he screamed, feeling tears shoot up in his eyes. He bit his teeth together, the grip made it hard to breathe. Soon he would loose his consciousness, he already couldn't think straight anymore. He needed air, fast!  
"Identify yourself", she demanded again, but to his horror another girl was coming around the corner, looking exactly like the first one.  
Jongdae tried to calm himself, he just wanted the grip to loosen.  
"Kim Jongdae", he squeaked, unable to speak properly.  
A hard, fast punch was placed in his face and the next second the grip was gone and he fell down to the ground.  
His face was burning, a breaking pain shot out from his nose and he rolled around on the ground. His blurry vision didn't allow him to see much, but his back was arching. Nevertheless nothing was more important than that his lungs could pump air again and he sucked it in, coughing when it was too much.  
A bitter taste was spreading around in his mouth and he spit out a bit of blood, causing him only to cough more.  
Again he didn't see it coming when a kick hit his chest and his eyes went black for a few seconds, the pain making him blind. He curled together, trying hard to keep away the pain in his chest, but it only got worse.  
Something had been breaking inside him and he whimpered, blood running out of his mouth.  
"Check his hand", one voice said, he didn't know which one of the girls it was, but the voice was just as cold and mechanical as before.  
Her hand ripped his arm away from his chest. Jongdae screamed and begged inside for the pain to stop. Just go away, just leave him alone.  
"He doesn't have the sign", one voice stated and threw his arms down to the ground again.  
Slowly he tried to open his eyes, his body shaking.  
He saw the two of them standing across from each other. Which one of them attacked him, he couldn't tell anymore.  
"But our calculations were correct"  
"Then we just kill him"  
Jongdae stopped breathing, his blood ran cold, his body paralyzed.  
They would kill him. Without hesitation, there was no emotion in their faces.  
In the last month he had thought two times that he would die, but it seemed meaningless now. All his worries about belonging.  
He would never see the beach.  
He would never throw ice water over Yoongi again, running away laughing while his roommate tried to run after him.  
Never again would he sit together with Namjoon in his studio, having philosophical discussions and musical freestyle.  
Tears were running down his face, mixing with the blood on the pavement.  
He loved his boring life, he didn't want to loose it. Now the people screaming at him in the morning wanting coffee didn't seemed to bad.  
The girls faced him.  
He wished that Seulgi would find her freedom, he wished that Soonkyu would figure out her argument with her parents. He wished that Yoongi would play the song he had wrote for the person he liked.  
Slowly he started closing his eyes, but NO. He couldn't accept this.  
With all the power he had left he leaned himself on his elbow, glaring into their black eyes.  
At least he wanted to see who would kill him in this small dirty alley.  
The explosion following broke through the alley like thunder.  
It felt like minutes until she hit the ground, Jongdaes mouth wide open.  
With a loud crash the girl landed on the floor, it sounded like metal on stone. The dirt was flying around her head, her black eyes looking as lifeless as ever at Jongdae.  
Her head was split, being torn apart by a big spiked block of ice. Wires were hanging out her head, small sparkles of electricity all over her body.  
The other girl was just turning around, trying to find the cause of the sudden attack when two hands gripped around her head and shoulders.  
With one pull, her torso was being torn apart. Her chest was bursting open, showing electronic, metal and plastic inside, aching loudly when it was separated.  
Small pieces of metal were flying around the alley.  
One arm landed next to Jongdae, he could see her soft hands twitching one last time, then it was still.  
He turned his eyes back to where she had been standing, there was only a pile of electronic waste left.  
The cloud of the explosion was fading and once more, Jongdae was not able to breathe.  
A small silhouette was being drawn as the fog lifted.  
Jongdae stared at the silhouette, his breath going fast and shallow.  
He needed to get away. Under crushing pain, he stretched out his arms and tried to drag himself away, but the exhaustion was too much.  
Close to him he heard how someone kneeling down.  
Jongdae snatched his head around and his blood froze.  
Grey, blue eyes were staring at him.  
"Please don't kill me", Jongdae begged.  
"I won't", the black haired boy said, his voice soft but confident.  
"But they will"  
The other one came closer to him.  
"Call Jongin. We need to get him away from here", blue eyes said.  
"Jongin is not stable enough, I'll carry him", buzzcut guy said firmly, shoving the other one away.  
Jongdae trembled. He was not able to get away on his own.  
"Hey", his opponent said softly. His voice was smooth and deep, a little rasp.  
"I will carry you now. This might hurt a little, but it will be over soon"  
With that he grabbed Jongdaes legs and arms and lifted him up without any troubles, even if he was much smaller than him.  
He screamed out in pain, it felt like his wounds had been ripped open again.  
Next to him he heard other steps.  
"Yixing is on his way. Sehun and Chanyeol will be his escort"  
The guy carrying him hummed in agreement.  
Yixing..he heard that name before.  
His mind was slowly drowning in steam, Jongdae couldn't hear the steps anymore, voices were talking.  
"Hey! Hey, don't fall asleep", a high pitched voice said, urging, worrying.  
But all Jongdae wanted was sleep. All the pain would go away, just swaying away into the empire of endless clouds..  
Something was moving under his back, but it was soft and comfortable.  
But then something pulled and he groaned out in pain again.  
Get the clouds back!  
Someone was touching him, and he tried to slap away whoever it was. He just wanted to sleep.  
A roaring noise was audible far away and then he felt like flying.  
Were they driving?  
Again, someone was touching him.  
".. don't", he whimpered.  
"Ssshh. I know it hurts", a voice soft like honey said.  
"Soon it won't hurt anymore"  
Jongdae tried to turn his body but it was aching, it was begging him to stop moving.  
But, the pain in his chest was slowly getting better. It was like magic.  
Just as he was flying into the land of clouds again, a crash, as loud as the girl exploding, happened next to him.  
He tried to lift his torso, but it was impossible, he felt like he was drunk and arms were holding him down with force.  
"Drive!"  
"What the fuck do you think I'm doing?!"  
Something hot was passing him, like fire dancing around him, pushing his pulse high.  
Sweat was dripping down his forehead.  
Again, something was crashing and Jongdaes heart started to pound faster, his breath going harder. He was in shock. His muscles were cramping, his fingers twitched.  
A small noise was leaving his mouth.  
He tried to concentrate on his breath, but the car was going to fast, the curves were to rough, his head was bouncing against something hard.  
"Okay, you've done enough. Sleep now", the voice above him said and suddenly his limps went numb and as hard as he tried to hold onto his consciousness, he failed and sunk into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayy thanks for all the readers and my beta Oodle who helps me correct my shitty writing.  
> Love you all ~


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!  
> Life has been shit and I'm sorry I've been gone for a long time but I'm back!  
> I hope you enjoy and I will change my updating behaviour hehe
> 
> Love y'all ~

He rushed upwards in a confused haze. The room surrounding him was unfamiliar. It looked like a basement, the walls made out of stone and metal, the roof build weirdly high.  
Jongdae was laying inside a white bed, surgery equipment around him on small steel tables.  
His chest was aching, like a lot of pressure was on it, while his nose was tingling.  
A big steel door separated him from the rest of the building, it looked old and heavy.  
The whole room looked like it was really old, worn down and uncomfortable.  
A big cupboard on the wall was filled with bottles and ampoules, some kind of medicine probably.  
His eyes scanned the room, looking for some way to escape.  
A small ventilation grit was high up the wall, but it looked way too small for him.  
What would they do to him if he couldn't escape?  
Slowly he tried to move, but the bed squeaked loudly.  
To his surprise his body didn't hurt as much as he was expecting.  
How long had he been asleep?  
Was he a prisoner?  
A cold shiver ran down his spine and in one movement he his feet hit the ground.  
His clothes were partly drenched in blood and full of dirt.  
Nervousness crept up inside him, he had to think back to their first encounter, the guy with the blue eyes, cold as ice and intimidating.  
But yesterday they saved him. Why?  
Too many questions were building up in his mind, but his top objective was still to escape.  
Just when he started to form a plan, the heavy door cracked and opened with an irritating noise.  
Through the crack he saw two people coming in.  
One of them was the ominous Yixing, a tall black haired guy, strands hanging messy into his face. He smiled friendly, small dimples forming on his cheeks.  
The other one, Jongdae had never seen before. His face was firm, but not angry. His hair was in a warm brown, pushed out of his face neatly.  
Both of them were dressed in black pants, Yixing was wearing a loose shirt and the other one a leather jacket.  
Jongdae crawled back, trying to keep distance.  
"How do you feel?", Yixing asked politely, but Jongdae didn't answer, he didn't trust them.  
They eyed him frowning.  
"Can I talk to him alone?", the other one asked Yixing who nodded and left the room again, leaving the door open.  
This may be his chance, if he was fast enough. But he didn't know where to go afterwards.  
"What do you want to do after getting out of this room? Do you really think it's so easy to escape?"  
Jongdae stopped looking at the other guy. Shit, he was always way to obvious.  
"Let's start from the beginning", the guy took a seat at the second bed that was standing next to him.  
"My name is Joonmyeun. You could say I'm the leader of this small.."  
"Gang?", Jongdae interrupted, which caused the other one to chuckle.  
"Oh no. Not what you might understand under this term"  
"Are you going to kill me?"  
Joonmyeun raised his eyebrow in suprise.  
"What sense would it make to save you and then kill you?"  
He had a point.  
"Speaking of that. What did they want from you?"  
Jongdae tilted his head.  
"I don't know", he admitted.  
"May I ask for your name?"  
"No", Jongdae said firmly.  
Joonmyeun looked at him weirdly.  
"I don't trust you. At. All"  
His opponent sighed.  
"Understandable"  
They sat in silence for a while.  
"But", Joonmyeun started. "We need to find out what they wanted from you. If they wanted to kill you, they will try again"  
"Who the fuck are 'they'?!"  
Again he sighed.  
"Why don't you come with me and meet the others?"  
Others. If he meant those he already met, Jongdae really had no intention of meeting them. But maybe he could find a way out there.  
"Fine"  
Joonmyeun eyed him worried.  
"Can you walk?"  
Why the fuck did he play so nice.  
Jongdae jumped off the bed, pain stretching through his body but he kept a straight face. He didn't want to give him any satisfaction.  
While Joonmyeun approached the door, Jongdae shot a glance to the surgery equipment and snatched a small knive off it, hiding it inside his jacket.  
Walking through the door he found a long hallway in front of him. The roof was of the same hight as the room he woke up in and the walls made out of the same robust metal.

It reminded Jongdae a lot of an old military fortress, cold and strict, not having been used for a long time.  
They turned left and then there were two doors at the right. Voices were audible, laughing too.  
It was a weird feeling.. hearing people laugh at a place like this.  
Joonmyeun opened the door slowly and the voices went silent.  
Seven pairs of eyes were looking at him, Jongdae recognized four of them.  
His inner voice was telling him to run away, maybe this was his chance.  
Fuck, why didn't he go when they were just the two of them walking?  
The room in front of him was weirdly.. comfortable.  
A set of couches were in front of a big television, rugs covered the cold stone ground, pictures were hanging on the walls. Two boys, one of them Jongdae recognized as the red haired guy being thrown the window, the other, taller one, with silverish blue hair, were sitting in front of the television on the ground.  
Yixing and two others were sitting spread across the sofas. One of them had almost orange hair and an undercut, looking bored at some kind of tablet.  
Another one was laying on the couch, dark brown hair falling into his face, his body quiet muscular, but bruises showed through the sleeveless shirt he wore.  
Yixing was leaning over him, making a distressed face.  
Buzzcut guy and the blue eyed one were sitting on a big table, two cups in front of them and..a gun.  
Jongdae shivered. The whole peaceful atmosphere was ripped apart and the fear came back.  
Even if he didn't know exactly what it was he saw, he saw what they were capable of yesterday, he remembered how violent it had been.  
"You're finally awake", red haired guy said with a big smile.  
Joonmyeun stepped further into the room but Jongdae refused to move.  
If he went inside that room he was trapped there with all of them.  
"Are you shy?", the one with the blue hair asked, his voice surprisingly deep, coming from a person with such a soft face.  
"He is scared", buzzcut said.  
"Why?", the red haired one asked, his smile fading.  
"Why?!", Jongdae spat. He couldn't believe how those cold-blooded murders could sit there like that, acting like this was some kind of fucking frat house at university.  
"We saved you", the small red haired said pouting.  
"Yes after you scared the shit out of me, then followed me to university like it was some kind of joke to you. And whatever the hell happened yesterday!"  
"Baekhyun you went to his university?" Joonmyeun asked angry.  
The red haired one, Baekhyun apparently, looked away.  
"Yes he did!"  
"And why?"  
Baekhyun turned around again, blushing a bit.  
"I wanted to get calculus"  
The sleeveless boy busted out laughing.  
"Don't act like you get calculus Jongin!"  
He lifted his head, and grinned in Baekhyuns direction.  
"I don't need to get it"  
Jongdae felt like he was in a bad sitcom. His anger was boiling up again. None of them were taking him seriously. Was his life some kind of joke to them?  
His fingers tensed and he closed a fist, his knuckles turned white.  
While they were finally distracted, Jongdae saw his chance. Now!  
He turned around and ran into the hallway as fast as he could.  
He arrived at a big door, there were a lot of locks, a big wheel and the steel looked burned and more damaged than anywhere else in the complex.  
"Fuck!", he yelled out in frustration. Now he needed to get back a little.  
Again he turned around and moved forward when with one 'bang' someone appeared in from of him.  
Out of thin air, the guy in the sleeveless shirt had appeared, smiling smugly at him.  
Jongdae stumbled back, shaking his head in denial. When would this stop?  
When had physics and everything else stopped making sense?  
"Jongin what do you think you're doing?!", Buzzcut appeared behind him, looking furious.  
"We're trying to gain his trust. Not scare him even more!"  
He shoved Jongin to the side lightly.  
"They can be a bunch of idiots, I agree. Come back and we explain everything to you"  
His expression was honest, his voice calm. Instinctively Jongdae calmed down.  
"My name is Kyungsoo. Please come back"  
Kyungsoo walked back, down the hallway, dragging Jongin behind him.  
Jongdae followed them, full of slightly less distrust.  
They walked back into the room and he realised that he had no choice other than talking to them. If they had wanted to kill him, they would have already done it, right?  
"Thank you for coming back", Joonmyeun said smiling, leading him to the table that the blue eyed boy was still sitting at, nipping on his cup.  
The gun made Jongdae uncomfortable.  
"Minseok, please put the gun away", the leader said after sitting down.  
The eyes of the *man*, called Minseok apparently, pointed to the other side of the room, while he was drinking.  
The tall, blue haired guy was approaching from behind, taking the gun and mumbling a fast "sorry", covered with a nervous laugher.  
Jongdae took a seat between Yixing and Baekhyun and slowly everyone was sitting down on the table. He noticed that still a few chairs were empty. Were there even more of them?  
Joonmyeun sat across from him and waited until everyone was seated and quiet.  
Suddenly it was too quiet, so Jongdae just bursted out the most important question.  
"So why did they wanted to kill me?"  
"That's what we are trying to find out", Joonmyeun said, looking serious.  
"Humans are generally not interesting for them"  
"Excuse me?" Were they implying that they weren't humans? In what kind of freakshow was he trapped in?  
"Did you talk to them?", Minseok asked suddenly.  
Jongdae frowned.  
"They asked me questions and talked to each other, but..it made no sense", he tried to remember what they were talking about.  
"They asked for my name over and over again"  
"Your name?", Kyungsoo asked confused.  
"Usually they don't care about names", Joonmyeun said to nobody in particular, rubbing his head.  
"Are you sure they asked specifically for your name?"  
Again, Jongdae thought. His memory was kind of blurry.  
"I think they said: Identify yourself"  
Nobody said a word.  
"And then they checked my hand quiet violet and talked about calculations"  
Joonmyeuns eyed widened.  
"Oh my god", Baekhyun whispered.  
"Could it be..?", Minseok asked, staring at Jongdae, mouth a bit open.  
He didn't know what was going on, but he recognised how the atmosphere in the room had changed. It was tense.  
"May I..may I see your left hand?", Joonmyeun asked carefully polite.  
Jongdae was suspicious. What could be so fascinating about his hand?  
The leader saw his look and stretched out his own arm, revealing the back of his hand. On it was a sign. It was a shaped like a geometric drop, half black, inside his skin. It wasn't a tattoo, it didn't looked like it was made, it looked like it belonged to his skin, it was way too smooth.  
Something im Jongdaes memory was tingling.  
"Do you have something like this?", Joonmyeun asked.  
Jongdae shook his head and revealed his hand hesitant.  
On his right he heard disappointed murmuring when his flawless skin.  
Now that he knew what to focus on, he realised that all of them, so far he could see, had signs in their hands, but they were all different.  
Joonmyeun stood up, walking around, distressed.  
But meanwhile, Jongdaes mind was working hard. He knew those signs. Where did he see them before?  
"Nevertheless we can not let you just go home like this", Joonmyeun stated.  
"Something about you is appealing to them, and as long as we don't know what, you will need our protection. Otherwise you and everyone close to you will die a painful death"  
Close to him?  
Like a slap in the face his friends came to his mind. Would they threaten them? Panic welt up inside him. He wasn't at work, he didn't come home. What were his friends thinking? They must be worried to death.  
"I-I need to go", he said rushing, about to get up.  
"Didn't you hear what he just said?", the orange haired guy asked, whose name Jongdae still didn't know.  
"My friends.."  
"Are safe as long you are not near them"  
"Why should I trust you?", Jongdae asked angrily.  
"Because you have no choice", Minseok said clearly.  
He bit his lips. So they would be safe, but he couldn't contact them.  
So he must be cruel in order to protect them?


	6. Chapter 6

Jongdae stared at the ceiling, listening to the steps echoing in the distance. There was always someone awake in this complex, his door always open. Noises finding their way into his ears, some caused by normal things like laughter, swearing, arguments. Some caused by more foreign things like Joonmyeun tapping around frowning, words Jongdae didn't understand, exchanges of whisper, the hard sound of metal.  
And some noises, he wanted to ignore. It were those noises that made Yixing run out of the room, that made him curse at the others. It were those noises that reminded him of violence, dull explosions, finding their way through the walls. Sometimes the whole complex was shaking, and Jongdae asked himself what kind of force needed to be released to cause something like this.  
But he didn't really caring right now, he felt too numb.  
Jongdae felt as if he was watching someone else from above, some other body laying in the hospital bed, silently watching at the ceiling.  
But it was him.  
He felt so helpless, trapped under the ground, inside metal walls, under surveillance all of the time.  
What was he supposed to do?  
Right now that was the only thing he could do.  
Wait. Wait for himself, wait for Yoongi. It's not like he had a choice.   
Two days might have passed since he woke up, but he didn't know for sure.  
He knew he slept two times.  
But he missed seeing actual daylight.  
During that time he had learned the names of the other two who he didn't know.  
One of them, the tall one with the blue-grey hair, visited him on the second day.  
His head tilted down he came through the door, smiling softly.  
"Hey, I don't think I introduced myself properly..I'm Chanyeol"  
He approached Jongdae and sat down at the bed next to him which was usually reserved for Yixing to sit on.  
"You know I went back to the place where they.. attacked you"  
"Why?", Jongdae asked, sitting up and trying to think about where this conversation would go.  
"Androids are a good resource for rare metals and technology more advanced than human standard", he explained.  
"And of course we needed to clean up"  
"Can't risk having two dead robot girls laying around?", Jongdae negged.   
He laughed at that.  
"Well, why I'm here is that your phone was laying on the ground. But it's totally crushed"  
Embarrassed, he took out a pile of..waste, that looked a bit like Jongdaes phone had, and handed it over.  
Jongdae held it in his hand, staring at it. There was his chance of contacting the outside world.  
The touchscreen was crushed, some electronic from underneath shining through it and some water was dripping out of it.  
"Why is it so wet?"  
Jongdae shook it and watched as the drops flew around, cynical.  
"I don't know, I'm sorry. I just thought I give it to you"  
"Thanks", Jongdae sighed and turned the waste around in his hand.  
"I need to get going", Chanyeol said and stood up.  
"See you around"  
Jongdae couldn't be angry at him to escape out of this uncomfortable situation, he was too busy staring at the dropping piece of glass, plastic and metal.  
He remembered the last message that Yoongi had sent to him, and sighted.  
Did he call him? Did anyone call him?

Now, on day three, he was sitting with his legs up the bed, like always and stuffed his face with the rice and vegetables that Yixing had brought him.  
Jongdae had to admit that it tasted amazing. All the food they gave him was really delicious and he wondered how this could fit in a place like this.  
Yixing looked at him and smiled.  
"Kyungsoo and Minseok made it", he commented.  
Jongdae tilted his head.  
"The food. Since you seem to like it"  
Violent murderers that were chefs..how ironic.  
But he liked Yixing, he was okay to have around, not as annoying and he made so much effort for Jongdae to feel well.  
If they had met under different circumstances, they could have been friends.   
He thought of Yixing as someone who might be a lot of fun to go out with.  
They ate in silence and afterwards Yixing put the bowls on the small table next to them.  
Jongdae knew what would follow now. It was the weird procedure that Yixing would do every day, at least three times, always after they ate.  
He was ordered to lay flat on the bed and breathe normally.  
"Where is it hurting the most?", Yixing asked as the let his hands flow in a small distance over Jongdaes body, like he was scanning it.  
"At.."  
"Your chest?", he interrupted, while he had stopped with his hands over Jongdaes chest, frowning.  
Jongdae nodded.  
"Good. Well not good you're in pain. Good that I get used to you more"  
He laughed nervously and his face became more concentrated, his eyes getting small and tiny drops of sweat started forming on his forehead.  
Jongdae had no idea what he was actually doing, or talking about. He just knew it felt good, well not actively, but he felt how he was in less pain.  
Like when he stood up, he realised that it didn't feel like knives where being stabbed into his back anymore.  
It was too late to question everything happening around him, he was just happy that Yixing did, whatever he did.  
"Why are you here?", Jongdae bursted out.  
Yixing looked at him, taken aback, shaking his hands a bit, looking irritated being driven out of his task.  
"What do you mean?"  
"You're nice", Jongdae answered shortly.  
"The others are nice too"  
Jongdae snorted.  
"What do you know about them?"  
Yixings voice was calm but a bit strained, maybe it was the closest Jongdae had heard him being angry.  
So he decided to shut up, even if it was hard. But he shouldn't ruin his relationship with the only one he liked.  
"Nevermind"  
Again, he noticed the sign on Yixings hand, it was the shape of a unicorn.   
What a weird choice.  
"Why a unicorn?", Jongdae asked, head in the clouds.  
"It's well known that unicorns have healing powers", Yixing said softly while tracing his hands over Jongdae again.  
"Is that why you choose it?"  
Subtle Jongdae was ignoring the implementation Yixing had just made about healing powers   
"We don't chose, we're born with that"  
And with that they fell silent for a long time.  
What kind of freakshow did he end up in?

The worst thing about the noises were their absence at night.  
Jongdae couldn't sleep, because it was too quiet, maybe because it was too dark, no windows were he could observe the night sky. Or maybe just because he did nothing all day except for sleeping and chatting with Yixing.  
And because he didn't know what else to do, he decided to walk around.  
So he got out of bed, a dull sound echoing through the room when his feet hit the ground. He had to be careful not to wake up anybody.  
Carefully he walked out of the medical room, facing a hallway that was lightened only by a few dim lights bulbs.  
When he went to the 'living room' the first time, he had seen that hallway, but then never again.  
Thoughtless he walked through the complex. Most doors were shut.  
It was bleak in here. Without the people, even the living room looked sad, liveless and even dangerous.   
With soft steps he walked around the table he had sat at a few days ago and touched it with a finger. When did everything become so surreal?  
Before he could go deeper into his nostalgic thoughts, he heard a silent voice.  
"Are you trying to escape again?"  
Jongdae literally jumped in to the air.  
He looked around, trying to make out where the voice came from.  
After a few moments he recognised a door behind the table, being slightly open.  
A soft snore was audible from behind and even a tiny ray of light came out of it.  
How could he not have seen it before?  
He approached the door, a bit scared and glimpsed inside.  
The room was as big as his bedroom back home, but it was covered in monitors, devices and equipment Jongdae had never seen before.  
On a few monitors were recordings of a camera, another were just showing numbers and statistics, while the devices were covered in buttons.  
Some looked new, others really old and the whole wall was covered in wires and electronics.  
The screens created a dull light that was falling on Minseoks face.  
He was sitting in a comfortable chair, wrapped in a blanket, eyes puffy and sleepy.  
His usually carefully done hair was messy and a headband prevented it from falling into his eyes.  
Behind him on a small couch Jongin had spread himself out in an uncomfortable looking position, snoring softly, mouth wide open.  
"Should I be worried about your intentions, snooping around at night?", Minseok asked and looked at him. The cold, piercing blue of his eyes appeared rather grey and calm. The whole scenery made him look so harmless.  
"I couldn't sleep", Jongdae answered, still standing in the door frame.  
Minseok yawned and shook his head a bit, which made him look like a cat and kind of cute.  
Jongdae had to chuckle at that, which earned him a death glare.  
"Why are you awake?", he asked back.  
"Night shift", was the answer while Minseok leaned his head back.  
"He isn't taking it too seriously", Jongdae noted while pointing his head to Jongin.  
"When I need him I'll wake his ass fast"  
Obviously Minseok had no intentions of talking, but Jongdae was too curious about the monitors and why a night watch would be necessary.  
"What do these monitors show?"  
Minseok blinked and thought, probably considering if he should tell.  
"Where they are, what they do. If they do something out of the norm"  
They. Again no information who these robots actually were.  
But then Jongdae realized something.  
"Did you find me like that when they attacked me?"  
Minseok nodded.  
"It's really untypical for them to go into the city and get..active there. Humans are not interesting for them. For now"  
Discomfort crept up in Jongdae, these words could mean so much, and nothing of it would be good.  
"Then why can't I leave?"  
Frowning Minseok looked at him, now the cold in his eyes returned.  
"So you want to risk your life, ours and that of people around you?"  
"It's none of your business. Nothing happened the last days. Maybe it was a mistake and they just attacked me after I had contact with you!"  
Minseok snorted, his face showing disgust and amusement.  
"Nothing happened because we saved you, because we protect you. Do you really think we have nothing better to do than babysitting? And even if we let you go, what I would gladly do, they would find you, because they. Don't. Do. Mistakes. From my perspective you could get yourself killed, but Joonmyeun would kick my ass"  
For a moment there was silence, but Jongdae was angry.  
Angry at Minseoks arrogance, angry at his ignorance.  
"You're so tough, caring about nobody but you, trusting nobody", Jongdae mocked.  
"I dare you to shut the fuck up or you'll regret it", Minseok had raised his voice a bit while he spat out the words and Jongdae would have lied if he had said that he wasn't afraid in that moment.  
But he stood still, just glaring back.  
Jongin hickuped in his sleep and turned around.  
Minseok yawned again and pressed his eyes together.  
"Ah for fucks sake you're not leaving are you?", he said, more to himself than to Jongdae and tried to stand up.  
"I need coffee", Minseok murred and pulled the blanket around him.  
He now stood in front of Jongdae and the sight was adorable.  
Just now he realised that Minseok was smaller than him and wrapped in the blanket, which fell far onto the ground, combined with his messy hair and puffy eyes.  
"Come with me so I can keep an eye on you", he said as he passed Jongdae, tapping sleepily into the living room.  
"Come on", Jongdae heard the sleep drunken voice again and decided it was the best to just follow.  
They walked across the room, to another door which was placed next to the television.  
Minseok fiddled under the blanket, pulled out a small key and opened the door. This one was made out of metal too, but not as heavy as the others.  
Inside was a spacious kitchen and a pantry, filled with inventories for cooking and a lot of groceries.  
"A special key for the kitchen?"  
Minseok turned on the light and just said: "To prevent us from starving when Baekhyun or Jongin get midnight munchies"  
It took him a few tries to place the blanket on himself, but being able to use his hands, until he failed and sighed.  
"I can make coffee", Jongdae suggested, and he really didn't know why.  
Minseok considered again.  
"I'm not going to poison you", Jongdae said jokingly.  
"Not like you could", Minseok replied, and it might just have been his imagination, but Jongdae thought he heard a smile in his voice.  
Jongdae asked where the coffee machine was and Minseok pointed at one drawer and what Jongdae found inside made him a bit happier inside.  
It was an old traditional espresso machine, which you had to put on a gas stove.  
"Oldschool", he noted, while he took out the small machine and other items he needed for making the foam.  
"Where is coffee and milk?", he asked Minseok who was just watching him, still wrapped tightly in his fluffy blanket.  
Latter walked to a big box which looked like a fridge, took out milk and a small metal box.  
When Jongdae opened it, he saw it containing hand ground coffee beans.  
Carefully he smelled it and had to smile. It smelled of home and comfort for him.  
He was even more surprised when Minseok let him work freely, when he lit up the stove and prepared the coffee and started foaming the milk.  
Casually he glared to his side, seeing Minseok leaning at the wall, blinking tiredly. Usually Jongdae felt the urge to make conversation, but now it was different.  
He felt calm, panning around the milk, it was like mediation, something he loved.  
Soon after, he heard the liquid in the machine boiling, steam coming out of the opening.  
Taking out a cup out of the cupboard, he filled in first the dark brown coffee and then grabbed the small bowl of milk and filled the cup with foam.  
Skilled he mixed the two components together and creating the pattern of a small flower on top of it.  
Satisfied with his work he handed the cup to Minseok and made himself one too.  
"It's still really hot", he said, when Minseok freed his hands from the blanket and took the cup into them.  
"No worries"  
Jongdae watched in awe how the other blew a small bit of air out. But even if the inside temperature of the room was around 20°C, Minseoks breath contained of small ice and snow crystals dancing above the cup.  
It was like the steam of someone breathing out in deep winter, just the other way around.  
Something so simple but truly fascinating, Jongdae couldn't do anything different but stare at him.  
Again, his eyes strayed to the back of the hand from his opposite.  
Minseoks sign was shaped like a minimalistic snowflake, dark on his light skin.  
There was a thought forming in Jongdaes mind, but it was too fantastic to even finish it. He had to think about the incident with the robots, how one was destroyed by a spiked block of ice. And he had to think about what Yixing said about unicorn.  
He shook his head. This wasn't fucking Hogwarts.  
Frowning he nipped on his coffee, which was still way too hot while Minseok drank his just fine.  
But Jongdae tasted it and without controling it tears came into his eyes.  
No, he wouldn't cry in front of this asshole.  
But it didn't just like smell like home, it tasted like it too. It tasted like normality. Like early lectures in university, like long freestyle sessions at Namjoons apartment. It reminded him of daily life, because even if he had just been gone for a few days it felt like half a human life.


	7. Chapter 7

Somehow he was more confident and more active the next day. Maybe because he had seen more of the complex the last night and didn't want to spend his whole day inside the medical room again.  
Yixing seemed happy about it, he was glad that Jongdae felt better and suggested to accompany him to the living room.  
As short whiled as the little spark of optimism had lasted, as quickly was it crashed when the one with the orange hair, Sehun, met them in the hallway.  
"Why is he walking around freely?"  
Yixing laughed a bit embarrassed.  
"Because he can't just spend the whole day in this bed. It's bad for his health too"  
"This is not a tourist attraction", Sehun snapped.  
"Would be a shit one", Jongdae muttered, tired of them treating him like a baby or prisoner. Even if that was exactly what he is.  
"Excuse me?"  
Jongdae decided to better let it go, so Sehun gave him one last displeased look, a strict one to Yixing and went on.  
"I can't accompany you for that long, I have things to do", Yixing noted as they walked through the hallways, the doors were still closed, but muffled voices were audible behind a few of them.  
"What do you have to do?", Jongdae asked because he couldn't picture Yixing doing any task other than being nice to him.  
More or less as an explanation Baekhyun turned around the corner that same moment.  
"Unicorn", he almost sung and smiled.  
"Who is it?", Yixing asked sighing.  
Baekhyun laughed and just replied, like it was totally obvious "Jongin"  
"Okay, keep an eye on our guest", Yixing said, almost running away.  
Baekhyun looked at him and still smiled. "Do you feel better?"  
Jongdae nodded. "Do you want to eat something?", Baekhyun asked and Jongdae had to think about Minseoks comment about munchies.  
"Sure", he replied and followed the other boy through the hallway.  
The living room was empty once again and when Jongdae looked into the direction of the small door, he saw that it was a bit more open than yesterday night. Someone was talking inside, but it wasn't Minseok, his voice was too high.  
"Kyungsoo made awesome kimbap, do you want some?", Baekhyun asked while approaching the kitchen already.  
"Hey, if you're going to eat my kimbap, bring me some too", the voice out of the monitor room yelled.  
Baekhyun laughed and disappeared into the kitchen, which was not locked anymore.  
Jongdae turned around scared when he heard another loud smash, dull through the walls.  
Because of the hollow construction he couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from, but it appeared to change its source direction, since he was now in the living room. How big was the complex all together? It was a big disadvantage that there was always someone awake, because even if he didn't know how, Jongdae knew he would try to escape when they insisted on him staying much longer.  
"Why are you here?", Kyungsoo asked behind him and again Jongdae jumped back. He really had been acting like a scared chicken recently. But why did they have to be so sneakily all the time? It wasn't his fault.  
"Yixing wanted to walk around with me but he had to go"  
"Who was it this time?", Kyungsoo asked almost bored. Jongdae didn't know how long shifts were inside here, but Kyungsoo might be just as tired as Minseok was yesterday.  
"Jongin like always", Baekhyun said, balancing three plates, kimbap and chopsticks in his arms.  
Suddenly Kyungsoos expression shifted, because for one second Jongdae thought he saw deep worry inside his eyes.  
"Idiot. When will he learn to control himself better?"  
Baekhyun just shrugged and sat down at the table, Kyungsoo followed him.  
"Do you want to stand there for the whole day?", the latter asked without looking up.  
Hesitating Jongdae took a place next to Kyungsoo, while Baekhyun said opposite of him.  
"Any news?", Baekhyun asked casually while nibbling on a roll of Kimbap.  
"Not at all", Kyungsoo grunned, poking his food annoyed with his chopsticks.  
Jongdae could see his hand clearly. His sign was so different. It looked like a wild animal with black and white fur, it looked more aggressive. Where had he seen them before? He was so sure he had.  
"We neither know why he is interesting to them..", Kyungsoo started.  
Jongdae could swear it was quiet recently that he saw those signs. At university? No.  
"..nor do we know where the others are held.."  
He frowned deeply, were was it? It was in his memory, but he just couldn't point a finger on it.  
"..nor do we know what caused the enormous release of solar energy on New year's Eve"  
The noise when Jongdaes chopsticks hit the ground made the two others look at him.  
Jongdaes whole face went ice cold. His hands sweaty and his heart started racing.  
He remembered. New year's eve.  
The ornaments in Yoongis face he had seen, where those very signs belonging to those people.  
And what had he just said about a huge energy on that evening?  
Jongdae reminded himself of that moment where he thought he would die because a enormous amount of energy was floating through his veins, causing them almost to burst. The blinding light coming with it had indeed reminded him of the sun.  
He felt as if his breath was stopping.  
"What's wrong?", Baekhyun asked confused.  
"Wh-where was the outburst of energy exactly?", he asked Kyungsoo, voice shaking.  
Hesitant and confused Kyungsoo took out a small device, almost looking like an ordinary tablet and typed around a bit on that.  
"Dosan-daero 98-gil, Gangnam, Seoul", Kyungsoo answered, but Jongdae didn't hear it anymore. He knew which address it was. Jisoos house.  
"What's wrong?", Baekhyun asked again, looking worried.  
Jongdae hesitated. Was it really smart to tell them what he knew? What would they do to him if they knew?  
"Jongdae", Kyungsoo said, voice firm.  
He knew he had to say something, but his brain just went blank. Away, he needed to get away. The light on New year's eve was similar to the one he saw when Baekhyun was thrown through the window and he had no intention of sharing the same fate.  
If he acted quick enough, he could make it. There was almost no probability Jongdae could get away but his fleeing reflex was hammering inside his mind.  
He turned around, just to see Baekhyun standing right behind him. With fright he tried to leave but his movements were clumsy, so he fell down, pulling away the chair too, which hit the ground with an ugly noise.  
Before he could collect himself, someone from behind grabbed his hand, it was Baekhyun. Didn't he just stand over there?  
Jongdae moved his head, but Baekhyun had changed places so fast that he couldn't have followed it.  
The grip was firm and Baekhyun pulled him up, his face missing the usual light-heartedness, now just staring at him angry.  
"What are you hiding?", he hissed and pulled Jongdae a bit more, who was startleted by how much the grip hurt, coming from a person so skinny.  
Footsteps were coming from behind, Kyungsoo had most likely called the others. There went his chances of escaping, even if he still had the surgeon knive in his pocket.  
"What is happening here?", Joonmyeun yelled, clearly annoyed.  
Baekhyun made a move, forcing Jongdae to turn around, facing the others.  
Chanyeol was completely drenched wet, water dripping down his hair. Most of them looked worn out, but Sehun was even smoking a bit, his hair looking odd, while holding a gun.  
The sight of the gun made Jongdaes heart skip several beats.  
"He knows something about the solar energy, but won't tell us", Baekhyun said.  
Joonmyeuns eyes widened.  
"So no wonder why they were after him!", Chanyeol whined, shaking his head, drops flying around, making Jongin take a step away from him, his face showing disgust.  
"Okay, let me get this straight", Joonmyeun started, approaching Jongdae who wanted to step back, but Baekhyuns grip was too firm.  
"We try, for days, to get behind the reason for the attack and you just intentionally deprive information from us?!"  
Yes that wasn't really intelligent.  
"How could I know that this was important?", Jongdae whined while trying to free him from Baekhyun, which only caused Kyungsoo to step forward.  
Jongdae stopped fighting immediately. He had seen how Kyungsoo had ripped apart that robot like it was nothing and he made sure to not end the same way.  
"You experience something like an outburst of solar energy and don't think it's important?", Joonmyeun asked, trying now to control his voice, but failed somehow.  
"It was just a blackout! And I was tripping on acid, how should I know anything?!"  
Someone groaned annoyed in the back.  
"Sehun, check that", the leader ordered and the one being called disappeared in the monitor room fastly.  
"When did you arrive there?"  
Jongdae thought, but it was hard thinking straight right now.  
"I don't know"  
"Any proof you were there?", Joonmyeun asked intense.  
"Ugh, I bought something at the convenience store nearby, maybe you can ask.."  
"Sehun?"  
"Already on it", Sehuns voice came from the room, fastly after a short: "Got it. He was there"  
Joonmyeun went into the direction of the room and Baekhyun followed, which forced Jongdae to follow too.  
In front of the monitors Sehun sat, typing inhumane fast on the keyboard attached.  
On the screen Jongdae saw the recording of a CCTV, showing him at the counter, buying Soju.  
"According to the data protocol indeed a blackout accured at said address, in the early morning. Energy came back right after the outburst", Sehun explained.  
"The case is now, Kim Jongdae.."  
"How do you..?"  
"..is, that you were present at something which is usually impossible to happen at this earth. Something they are after. So, who or what are you?" Joonmyeun stared at him.  
"Maybe he is one of them", Sehun suggested casually.  
"Would they have tried to kill me then?!", Jongdae yelled.  
"Point proven"  
"Can we talk civilised?", Joonmyeun asked and looked back and forth between Jongdae and Baekhyun.  
Jongdae nodded carefully and followed Joonmyeun, who gestured him to sit at the table. Baekhyun took a seat next to him, while Joonmyeun was whispering heated with the others.  
"You really think that?!", Minseok suddenly bursted out, staring with wide eyes at his leader.  
"We have to consider it"  
Jongdae felt nervous by thinking about what they may consider for him.  
"But then we are at 0 again, because like they already noticed, he doesn't have the sign", Chanyeol said.  
"Maybe they were after him because they had the same thought you have, but could find the source earlier", Kyungsoo suggested.  
"Well", Joonmyeun started, sitting down next to Jongdae. "I have a suspicion and I want to prove it. Tell me about what happened"  
"There was a blackout and my friend said we just need to fix the fuse. Two of us went down, but the basement was flooded. Because of the rain. I don't really know what happened then..I pushed my friend away because the wires were about the touch the water. I grabbed them and then..this energy was smashing through me. A bright light surrounded me and as fast as it happened it had alrrady ended"  
It was silent. Joonmyeun buried his head inside his hands, thinking. Everyone was staring at Jongdae.  
"Who are your parents, Jongdae?", Joonmyeun asked suddenly and Jongdae seemed to be not the only one who was confused.  
"I don't know, I'm adopted", he explained.  
"Everyone, leave me alone with him please"  
Everyone stood up silently and left the room until only Joonmyeun was facing Jongdae. He swallowed, this situation wasn't ideal.  
Joonmyeun leaned back in his chair and started tipping with his fingers on the table, he was nervous. What could make him nervous?  
"What are you going to do with me now?", Jongdae asked carefully.  
"You know Jongdae, it's not easy being here. Being the leader. We only have each other, its a big burden"  
Jongdae had no clue what he was talking about.  
"Did you ever feel odd? Like, that you don't belong in this world?"  
That hit a nerve. The feeling of belonging that Jongdae had craved for for a long time. His thoughts about meaning, of sense, him being in this world.  
"Why do you ask?"  
Joonmyeun sat up straight and looked at him seriously.  
"Because I think that this world is not yours. Like it is not ours. We don't belong here, just like you"  
Jongdae stared at him, his mouth open. Then he laughed.  
"Are you serious?" What kind of joke was that?  
"The solar energy can only be caused by us, this is why they, who are called the red force, are after it. They suspected you to be one of us, which I think as well"  
One of them?  
"What do you mean with that this world is not mine, or yours?"  
Joonmyeun laughed nervously.  
"I never explained that to anyone, but I think you saw it the last days. Why do you think your ribcage is almost completely healed after only a few days? You have seen what Minseok and Kyungsoo could do"  
"I don't know what I saw", Jongdae said.  
"You know it, but the conventions of this society and its science tells you to doubt it"  
Joonmyeun turned his hand, casually until his palm was upwards. Slowly something formed, out of thin air, in the space above his palm. After a few seconds, Jongdae could see that it looked like water. Drops were collecting together, forming a small ball made out of water, which moved softly.  
Jongdae just stared in utter disbelief.  
"What is this?"  
"Water. I'm sure you have seen it before"  
Joonmyeun tilted his head to his hand, inviting Jongdae, who reached out with his own hand. Carefully he touched the water, which was moving irritated afterwards.  
Jongdae looked at his finger, which was a little wet. It felt like water, it felt real.  
With one smooth movement, Joonmyeun turned his hand and the water drop was gone.  
"We are not human, and neither are you"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are paragraphs lmao I'm sorry.  
> If you got down here you read all of this thank you and love you ~


End file.
